Leishmania is one of the protozoan parasites that are transferred to human by infected sand flies and gives rise to a range of diseases entitled as Leishmaniasis. More than 20 known species of Leishmania can infect humans and cause various clinical symptoms. Three most known clinical manifestations are Cutaneous Leishmaniasis (CL), Mucocutaneous Leishmaniasis (MCL) and Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) (kala-azar or black fever). The difference in the clinical form dependent on several factors: species of Leishmania, type of vector that transmits the Leishmania, and the immune status of an infected individual. The current drugs which are used as anti-leishaminial treatment are characterized by enormou

Visceral leishmaniosis is one of the most fatal old-world neglected disease with estimated 90 thousand worldwide cases emerge each year. In Iraq, the cutaneous and visceral form are endemic but available chemotherapies are either toxic with diverse side effects, expensive available drugs or parasite …

Although several drugs are used against Leishmania infection but they are associated with several adverse complications. Therefore, a new effective treatment needed to be found. In this study, the effect of carbonnanotubes nanoparticles (CNTs NPs) on Leishmania donovani promastigotes was assessed. Viability of promastigotes after adding different concentrations of carbonnanotubes (CNTs) nanoparticles (0.05, 0.1, 5, 10, 20, 40, 60 and 80 μg/ml) to the parasite culture was evaluated by growth rate, viability rate assay and morphological changes. The results indicated that the effect of CNTs NPs on growth rate of promastigotes form. After exposed to 80 μg/ml of CNTs, the growth rate of promastigotes clearly decreased compared with promast

Leishmaniasis is a disease caused by a protozoan parasite of the genus Leishmania. It is transmitted by the bite of sandfly (Subfamily Phlebotominae). Limited drugs are available for the treatment of leishmaniasis, and the general drug (pentostam) have many side effect on patients. Therefore, there is an urgent need for another drugs for the treatment of leishmaniasis.
This study aimed to develop new type of antileishmanial agents instead of classical drug (pentostam) and investigated the effectiveness of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) on Leishmania tropica parasites in both phases promastigote and amastigote in comparision to pentostam in in vitro condition.
This study showed the effects of Ag NPs in comparision to pentostam with d

Leishmaniasis is a worldwide disease still treated with expensive compounds that present severe side effects, and are frequently ineffective emphasizing the importance to search effective compounds against this disease. Miltefosine drug (HePC) that used as antitumor agent has been used against Leishmania tropica in two forms promastigote and axenic amastigote in vitro conditions. Different concentrations (5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 μM) of HePC were performed and exposed to both parasite forms in comparison to sodium stibogluconate (Sb) drug. Parasites viability then was determined using MTT assay after 12, 24, and 48hr of exposure. DNA was extracted from treated and untreated parasites after 48hr of exposure and qualitative analysis of th

Leishmaniosis is a tropical neglected parasitic disease that is endemic in many countries, including Middle East, with no existing effective vaccines. The bite of female sand-fly transmits the causative agent, Leishmania spp., to humans. High toxicity, resistance and treatment failure of the available chemotherapy against visceral leishmaniosis demands the investigation of new anti-leishmanial compounds. Lupeol is a form of triterpene isolated from several medicinal plants and possesses an antimicrobial property. In this study, cytotoxic effect of lupeol was screened against the mammalian amastigotes form and insect promastigote form of Leishmania donovani, following three cycles of incubation at different concentrations by MTT assay. Resul

Leishmaniasis is an endemic disease in Iraq, where both forms of the disease, cutaneous and visceral, are found. The effect of Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) with mean particle size less than 100 nanometer (nm) on viability and growth rate of Leishmania donovani promastigotes was evaluated. The anti-leishmanial activity of different concentrations (0.1, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, and 1 μg/ml) of ZnO NPs was investigated on promastigotes growth rates and viability in comparison to promastigotes exposed to the same concentrations of sodium stibogluconate (Sb) (pentostam).The inhibitory concentrations (IC50s) of ZnO NPs were calculated after 24 , 48 and 72 hr which were (0.871, 0.156 and 0.120 μg/ml) respectively with significant (p< 0.05

Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) is one of the most economically important species of the family Lamiaceae. Rosemary extract was examined by applying 2.2-diphenyl-1- picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical-scavenging assays. The result proved that rosemary extract had a higher antioxidant activity by absorption at a wavelength of 517a nm by using three different concentrations (0.5, 1.0 and 3) mg/ml which performed the absorbance at (2. 314, 0. 211 and 0.296) nm in comparison with control (21.8, 92.2 and 90) nm respectively. Results obtained using chemical detection of the phytochemicals indicated the presence of flavonoids, phenols, saponins, Steroids and cardiac in rosemary water extract. Water extracts of R. officinalis leaves were inves

Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) is a disseminated protozoan infection caused by Leishmania donovani parasites which affects almost half a million persons annually. Classical diagnosis methods of VL still not very sensitive and time consuming. In this study, we reported the success of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method to identify L. donovani based on kinetoplast deoxyribonucleic acid (kDNA) for the diagnosis of the parasite using in vitro promastigote cultures. LdI species - specific primer was used to identify L. donovani and the result showed a single band of about ~600bp. It can be recommended that this primer is to be used for detection the visceral L. donovani.